On Thursday's CBS This Morning, reporter Nancy Cordes concluded a fairly balanced report over the battle between members of Congress and the White House surrounding nuclear negotiations with Iran by uncritically quoting the Supreme Leader of Iran slamming the GOP letter to his country as “ridiculous, disgusting, and gross.”
Co-host Charlie Rose introduced Cordes’ report by highlighting how “[l]awmakers still have no common ground this morning on nuclear negotiations with Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday sat through a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill.”
After Cordes set the stage for Secretary Kerry’s testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee she went on to tout his response to the GOP:
Secretary Kerry slammed the letter sent by Senate Republicans that warned the Iranian regime that any nuclear deal not approved by Congress would be nothing more than an executive agreement and the next president could revoke it with the stroke of a pen.
The CBS reporter then proceeded to provide fairly balanced coverage of the back-and-forth between Kerry and the Republicans on the committee by including multiple soundbites from both sides of the debate.
Despite Cordes’ attempts to provide balanced coverage of the political disagreements over a potential Iranian nuclear deal, she went on to play a clip of Hillary Clinton’s news conference at the United Nations in which she blatantly attempted to change the subject from her e-mail controversy by attacking the GOP letter to Iran:
In the midst of her own controversy over private e-mails, likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a swipe at her potential opponents on Twitter writing that “no one considering running for Commander in Chief should be signing on to that letter.”
Rather than simply end her report there, Cordes went one step further and concluded by reading an uncritical quote from the Supreme Leader of Iran and treated his comments as no different from those being offered by American politicians:
Everyone is weighing onto this letter including Iran's Supreme Leader who said yesterday it is “ridiculous, disgusting, and gross.” And, Gayle, he added that “every time we're close to a deadline in the negotiations the tone on the other side especially that of the Americans becomes sharper, harder and more violent.”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS This Morning
March 13, 2015
CHARLIE ROSE: Lawmakers still have no common ground this morning on nuclear negotiations with Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday sat through a fiery hearing on Capitol Hill. Nancy Cordes is there as potential presidential contenders weigh in. Nancy good morning.
NANCY CORDES: Good morning. And tempers really did flare as the senators who signed on to that letter about negotiations with Iran come face-to-face with one of the chief negotiators, Secretary of State John Kerry.
JOHN KERRY: My reaction to the letter was utter disbelief.
CORDES: Secretary Kerry slammed the letter sent by Senate Republicans that warned the Iranian regime that any nuclear deal not approved by Congress would be nothing more than an executive agreement and the next president could revoke it with the stroke of a pen.KERRY: It purports to tell the world that if you want to have any confidence in your dealings with America they have to negotiate with 535 members of Congress.
CORDES: The Republican chairman, Bob Corker signaled he wasn’t interested in a lecture even though he didn’t sign the letter.
BOB CORKER: Mr. Secretary, I know that's a well written speech.
KERRY: Not a speech, my friend. This is not a speech. This is a statement about the impact of this irresponsible letter.
CORKER: Five minutes and 26 seconds later you finished.
CORDES: Over the 41 signers, four are likely presidential candidates and two used Wednesday's high-profile Foreign Relations hearing to take the administration to task.
RAND PAUL: I signed the letter to Iran, but you know what? The message I was sending was to you. The message was to President Obama that we want you to obey the law.
MARCO RUBIO: I believe that our military strategy towards ISIS is influenced by our desire not to cross redlines that the Iranians have about U.S. military presence in the region.
KERRY: Absolutely not in the least.
CORDES: In the midst of her own controversy over private e-mails, likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a swipe at her potential opponents on Twitter writing that “no one considering running for Commander in Chief should be signing on to that letter.” Everyone is weighing onto this letter including Iran's Supreme Leader who said yesterday it is “ridiculous, disgusting, and gross.” And, Gayle, he added that “every time we're close to a deadline in the negotiations the tone on the other side especially that of the Americans becomes sharper, harder and more violent.”
GAYLE KING: Alright Nancy. Message received. Thank you very much.
